A New Beginning
by cluckboy
Summary: This story takes off after the battle for Hogwarts... Harry finds out that life isn't so easy as people make it out to be- especially when you're the Boy Who Lived
1. The Night After

_Harry was walking through a hallway, a hallway that he had been through so many times before. As he got to the end he saw it, the Entrance Hall of Hogwarts castle. There were people crying over the dead and paying their last respects around him. Then out of nowhere, he heard a loud cackling laugh and a whip crack, and suddenly he was blinded by a flash of green light – _

Harry awoke with a start in his four-poster bed in Gryffindor tower, reaching over to the bed side table to find his wand. After he located it he quickly sat up and scanned the half-lit dormitory to find any sign of danger. When he realised that his worry was needless, he put his wand back on the table next to the remaining part of the sandwich that Kreacher had brought up to him the previous night. He lay down on his bed trying to get the sleep he needed. He had only had a fretful sleep before, one littered with flashes of the fight, and of all the people who had fallen earlier that day. In what seemed like only moments ago he had defeated Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters in a bloody and crazy battle.

"What's wrong, 'Arry?" said Ron in a groggy and dazed voice, sitting up on his bed and looking at Harry. Ron had apparently heard him searching for his wand

"It's nothing, Ron, go back to sleep," replied Harry with his thoughts once again trailing off to all the people who died in what had seemed like an un-winnable battle.

His thoughts went to Tonks and Lupin, newly weds who died fighting side by side, and Colin Creevey, who had come back to fight, but he just…just couldn't. He also thought of Fred Weasley who died with a smile on his face, laughing with Percy, sharing that final glorious moment together. Then his thoughts drifted to Ginny, the only person Harry could think of who would be able to comfort him. It had pained Harry to see her fight for hours for her life, against the Death Eaters, but she was strong and Harry longed to see her and to hold her in his arms one more time.

"Are you sure you're all right, Harry?" said Ron, looking at Harry, who had been staring into nothingness.

"Yeah, I'm fine… I'm going to go downstairs and walk around for a bit," said Harry, hoping to catch Ginny somewhere along the way.

Harry stood up and quickly walked over to the stairwell that led to the Gryffindor common room. He was so preoccupied that he almost walked into the big hole in the stairwell which looked like it might have been caused by a giant. When he got to the common room, it looked nothing like what he had been used to; the portraits were all burnt and the people inside them gone, and instead of windows there were huge holes where the wind gusted in, making the room uncommonly cold. The amazing thing about it all was that it seemed the castle was repairing itself; bricks were appearing out of nowhere and there was a floating spade that was putting concrete on the bricks, which then floated into place.

"Harry?" came a quiet voice from the stairs which lead to the girls' dormitory.

"Oh, hi Hermione," Harry replied, try to hide the disappointment in his voice. He had hoped that it would be Ginny. 

"I thought you were in bed getting some well-earned sleep, Harry. God knows you need it the most," she said softly, wiping her eyes every so often. It was obvious that she had been crying. "McGonagall would skin you alive if she found out you weren't sleeping, after all you did last night."

"I can't sleep anymore," said Harry honestly.

"Oh," replied Hermione, sighing and looking at the floor. "Neither can I, not after…" she trailed off, her eyes shining with newly-formed tears. "Oh and Harry … do you know where Ron is?" asked Hermione, not lifting her eyes.

"Yeah," answered Harry. "He's in the boys' dormitory, still sleeping I think."

"Oh," she replied hastily in a sad voice. It seemed that Harry wasn't the only person at Hogwarts who wanted to have someone else's company.

"Look, if you need me I'll be in the um…Great Hall helping out a bit," said Harry, just wanting to get out of the common room.

As Harry walked down to the Great Hall he walked past an area through which it looked like a hurricane had blown through. Death Eaters still littered the castle, lying down like they were asleep, but Harry knew otherwise. While he was walking, he recognised some of the faces of the Death Eaters. One of them was Bellatrix Lestrange, the reason that Teddy Lupin would never know his parents.

He looked at all the Death Eaters and wondered what had made them kill all those people and leave their families with grief. A part of Harry wanted to burn all the Death Eaters' bodies, but Harry knew that was wrong. 

Dumbledore wouldn't do that, Harry thought, Dumbledore would've wanted him to forgive them.

By the time Harry arrived at his destination, he was in utter amazement at all the damage done to it. Banners and drapes were ripped up and still burning, the staff table was broken in two, some of the glass windows were shattered and the roof was no longer bewitched to look like the night sky. As he looked around he saw people still doing the most gruelling and depressing task of all – collecting the dead bodies that littered the castle and carrying them into the Great Hall. Harry also realised that they weren't using magic; the fallen deserved respect, the kind you couldn't show with effortless wand-waving. 

"Harry!" called a loud voice from within the hall.

Harry turned around to see Ginny making her way towards him.

"Ginny!" Harry replied in a barely audible whisper.

Then Ginny ran to Harry, arms outstretched. Harry hugged Ginny with all the energy he had left. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be resting, Ginny?" said Harry in a parent-like voice.

"You sound like Mum… well actually you don't sound like her right _now_. She's more crying than talking."

When Harry looked down into Ginny's face, he saw that it wasn't as bright as usual. Then he remembered that her losses were as great as anyone else's. He felt really stupid for forgetting that.

"How are you feeling?" asked Harry softly as he stared into her brown eyes.

"You really want to know?" she asked. Harry nodded.

"I – I feel _horrible_," she gasped. She paused, apparently trying to recompose herself. Suddenly, she took a deep breath. "I always thought that it would be nice to have fewer brothers around –"

Harry was disturbed by the shakiness of her voice.

"– but now – oh gosh, I've been so _stupid_ – how could I ever think – "

Her words were coming out in sobs now, and before long, her whole body was wracking with unspoken grief. Harry pulled her close and stroked her hair, trying to sooth her.

"Shh… It's OK; it'll all be OK…"

But he knew it wouldn't. After all, he hadn't forgot what it was like to lose someone, had he?

Ginny lifted her head to look at him. Her bloodshot eyes darted to what appeared to be his shoulder. 

"Potter? What are you doing down here?"

Professor McGonagall was walking briskly down the stairs towards them. Her hair was once more in a tight bun, albeit one that looked like it had been arranged hastily. She looked tired, but apart from the singed robes, she seemed otherwise unscathed.

"Professor," he said, "I wanted to help with – well, with repairing the castle. Is there anything I can do?"

Professor McGonagall's usually stern and hard gaze softened as she looked at him. "Harry," she said, and Harry at once noted the use of his first name, "that is very noble of you, but you do need your rest. I think you've done quiteenough."

Harry tried not to argue. It was maddening how everyone seemed to not want him to help. He was sick of being treated the hero. Dumbledore would've understood; he would have realised that Harry wanted to help and might've let him.

Then it struck him; Dumbledore, the reason why Harry was here today and the reason the final battle was at Hogwarts. Harry wanted to see the portrait of Dumbledore, after only having a quick conversation at 'King's Cross' earlier that night. He felt there was more to talk about, and Dumbledore was the only person who would be able to explain things to him.

"I think I want to talk to Dumbledore's portrait," said Harry suddenly, looking out a window into the semi-darkness.

Professor McGonagall sighed. "OK, if you wish to. You'll find that the gargoyle which stands at the Headmaster'soffice has been greatly damaged, so you may enter without a password."

"Thanks," replied Harry. He turned to Ginny and squeezed her hand gently.

"I'll be back."

He set off on a brisk walk to the office where he would finally have a chance to talk to the great wizard one-on-one. Without Ron and Hermione, and hopefully, without the rest of the portraits listening. 

When Harry got to the gargoyle outside the office he once again found it lopsided and looking a bit drunk. Harry didn't even bother asking if he could enter. He stepped around the gargoyle, climbed the stairs and entered the office. It was submergedin total darkness, so he flicked his wand at a nearby candle stand, from which a sudden orange flame was lit. As the fire illuminated the room he saw that all the past Headmasters and Headmistresses looked as though they were asleep once again. Only one had opened his eyes to see the newcomer. As Harry looked at the portrait of the awoken occupant, he saw a smile.

"Ah, Harry." 


	2. The Last Ride

Hi again

_A/N Hi guys, this is my second chapter! Sorry for the delay put I've been up to my neck in other work. I would like to give a big thanks to my beta 'Pine-Fresh', you are AMAZING._

**Disclaimer****: **I do not own Harry Potter, (even if I would like to).

**Chapter 2 ****The Last Ride**

Harry was staring out the window, through which the late morning sun was climbing its way up the fluffy steps of clouds. The cheerful image contrasted with the heavy, sinking feeling in his chest.

"What I'm trying to say, Harry, is that what happened last night was not entirely your fault. Well, you did play a rather major part, but if it had not been for you, Harry… let's just say there would be fewer of us left to enjoy this world."

"Yes, but –"

"You would prefer Voldemort to still be living and killing?"

Harry hesitated.

"No."

"Then I believe we are in agreement. I assure you that the alternative to what you did would have given rise to most dire circumstances. Harry, look at me."

Harry lifted his head towards the portrait. The familiar blue eyes pierced his.

"You must learn not to blame yourself for what you had to do, Harry. It was for the best."

"Yes, Professor, but I still feel that if I hadn't listened to Hagrid that night back at the cottage on the sea, no one would have got mixed up in this," insisted Harry, now looking up into Dumbledore's portrait.

"Oh, on the contrary, it would have still happened, and it would have been worse. Voldemort would've got the Philosopher's Stone and he would've come back to power prematurely, with none of us prepared. But you stopped him getting it. Then again, two years ago you stopped Voldemort from getting the prophecy, which you couldn't have done if you hadn't come to Hogwarts," explained Dumbledore.

"Yes, but –"

"Also, in your second year you killed the basilisk and destroyed the Horcrux, which _no one _elsecould have done. So you see, Harry, this end was better. People were always going to die, and they knew that."

"I still feel responsible for all this. Teddy Lupin will never know his parents _and _he won't have a proper family," replied Harry to the portrait of the dead Headmaster. "Like me," he added.

"Harry," said Dumbledore gravely, "I will hear no more of this."

"And," continued Dumbledore in his usual calm voice, "Ted Lupin will be in the more than capable hands of Andromeda Tonks."

"Yes, Professor," replied Harry suddenly remembering that little Ted still had family left in the world.

"Now Harry, you must go back to bed and get some rest because _you_ of all people need it," said Dumbledore in a very calm voice.

Harry, knowing that the conversation was over, turned around and left without another word. As Harry trudged back up the usual path that led up to Gryffindor tower, he once again passed the battle-worn corridors and staircases (the moving staircases seeming not to have enough energy to move). When Harry reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, he saw that she was talking to Violet in a very raucous voice.

"I still think that – hic – Volgeport wouldn't have been able to get past you, he would've been – hic – waiting out here all night until he starved or – hic – until Sarry Otter came up here to finish him off," Violet said in a very loud and high-pitched voice as the Fat Lady giggled.

"Oh Vi – hic – stop flattering me!" replied the Fat Lady also in an unnaturally high voice. Harry wondered if they had got back into the portrait of the monks with the two hundred-year-old wine for a bit of 'celebrating'.

As he approached the portrait he was greeted with loud and long yells of congratulations from the tipsy ladies. When Harry finally got through the portrait hole he saw Hermione coming down the staircase which led to the boys' dormitories.

"Oh, Harry! Um … I left one of my… books on the staircase last night so I had to go and get it," said Hermione, who in Harry's opinion was a very bad liar and looked like she had inherited the Weasley blush.

"Yeah, of course you were. Can you tell me if Ron's in bed yet, so I know if I need to be quiet when I go to my dormitory?" And he left an opened-mouth, stunned girl standing on the bottom step as he walked up to go to bed.

"Oi! Harry, get up, the train's leaving in twenty minutes. HURRY UP!" yelled a frustrated Ron as he tried to get Harry out of the comforts of his four poster bed.

It had been four days since the battle, and the castle was almost back to its old self. The portraits had all been restored, the staircases fixed, and the towers, classrooms and the Great and Entrance Halls repaired. Even then, there was still an eerie silence around the once-crowded school. With some of the Slytherins, underage students and teachers gone the school felt empty.

Food was being served in the Great Hall again and the remaining students were able to do whatever they pleased (in the confines of the castle, of course). Most of the surviving members of the Order of the Phoenix aided the teachers in supervising and repairing the castle.

Today was a special day. The Hogwarts Express was leaving Hogsmeade station to take all the surviving students back to platform nine and three-quarters. Harry was (very happily) going to stay at the Burrow until he could figure out what to do next, and to top it all, he and Ginny had got back together the previous night. (It had been a wonderful evening in Harry's opinion. He had made a candle lit dinner for the two of them and at the end got down on one knee as if to propose and said, "Ginny, will you be my girlfriend for ever and ever, please." Then they had shared a verypassionate kiss together.) Harry wasn't going to tell Mrs Weasley when he got back because he thought that she would separate them for long periods of time if she knew. Harry could even hear Mrs Weasley's shrill voice in his head. "I do not want any grandchildren from my youngest and only daughter yet. You should thank me for doing this; separating you two is the only way to stop that."

"Harry, let's go, quickly now," Hermione said as they walked down the grounds to the carriages, which would take them to Hogsmeade station. They arrived at Hogsmeade station just as the conductor blew the five-minute warning whistle.

"Harry, come on. Let's go and find a compartment," said Ginny.

"Not like finding a compartment will be hard, there's hardly anyone left to take back. Why are you in such a hurry?" said Ron

"I just want to get away from this place as soon as possible. Too many bad things have happened here, so I'll be happy to get back to our house," snapped Ginny.

"You do know that you will need to come back next September to finish school," said Harry while putting Ginny's luggage in the storage rack.

"Yes, yes, I know I will, but I think I'll be one of the only people to come back. A lot of parents wouldn't want their kids to go to Hogwarts next year. They would want to keep their kids at home with them; I know I would. After all that happened I wouldn't be too sure if it was really over."

The train ride back to platform nine and three-quarters was a very enjoyable time for Harry; all throughout the day people popped in and out of their compartment and joined in on the fun.

"Hey, Neville," said Ron as the fellow Gryffindor entered the compartment.

"Hey," he replied in a subdued voice, sitting down next to Hermione.

"What's up, Neville?" said Ginny looking at him suspiciously.

"Oh, nothing… it's just that this is my – I mean our – oh sorry, Ginny – the last time most of us will be on this train. I just wished that my last year at Hogwarts was more enjoyable, that's all. And that you three were with me."

"Oh, Neville," said Hermione, taking his hand and pressing it warmly, "we're really sorry we couldn't be with you."

"Yeah, we are," affirmed Ron quickly.

"But," Hermione continued, "we think the way you held out and fought this year was _amazing_. We're very proud of you."

Neville smiled weakly. "You guys did so much more than me," he said quietly. "You're the ones who were amazing."

"We couldn't have done it without you, Neville," said Harry.

"And, now we can go out into the world and do what we want, without worrying about Voldemort and his Death Eaters. We can start a new beginning in our lives," said Hermione. The others nodded in agreement.

"You know what?" started Neville slowly, looking up at her, "I think you're right, Hermione." He sat in silent contemplation before continuing.

"I've always wanted to continue with Herbology, and I never really had the time this past year to seriously study... Maybe I could do a little exploration after this. You know, find an internship or something. And maybe," he said, looking up excitedly, "maybe I could end up teaching at Hogwarts! Professor Sprout said that she was looking for an assistant – I could apply, and it will be like I never left! If you guys think I'll make a good teacher, of course."

"That's the spirit, Neville," said Ron. "Of course you will be a good teacher! Now, let's get back to our game!" he declared.

Then, for the last time of their lives (except for Ginny), they played Exploding Snap on the Hogwarts Express all the way back to platform nine and three-quarters.

"Harry, can I talk to you for a minute?" whispered Ginny into Harry's ear, while the others started the twelfth new game of Exploding Snap.

"Yeah, sure, but where?" Harry whispered back.

"Just follow me, and _don't _make a big deal about it," she answered.

Then Ginny got up and said she was going to look for the lady with the trolley. Harry volunteered to go and help her look. After receiving orders for food from Ron, he followed Ginny down the train for about a minute until they came to what seemed like the five hundredth empty compartment.

"Why this compartment, Gin?"

"Because I need to find a place far away so we won't be disturbed."

"So, what's on your mind, love?" he said, sitting down and putting his hands on his knees.

"We need to talk," she said, sitting down next to Harry.

"We _are_ talking, Ginny – that's what it's called when you open your mouth and a noise comes out," he said in a semi-serious tone.

"Yes, I know that," she said hitting him on the arm softly. "What I mean is that we need to talk about what we will do when we get to my house. Stuff like… if we're going to tell my parents about us."

"I thought we already talked about this, love. I thought we were going to hold off telling them for a bit."

"Yes, I know, but I've been thinking…"

"Oh no, she's been thinking we're all going to _die_!" he said in a very dramatic voice.

"Yes, I _have _been thinking," she said hitting him on the arm a little bit harder. "And I thought that if we don't tell them straight away when they do find out they _will_ kill me for not telling them earlier," she said, looking into Harry's eyes with the majestic brown eyes she knew he couldn't resist.

"Fine! But how we going to tell them?" he said looking down, doing a very bad impression at a thinking face. "I know," he continued, "how about, the first night they find both of us in your bed with only underpants on."

"Yeah, I'm sure that will go down _very_ well with my parents," she said in a sarcastic voice. "How about," she said, "when the train stops we just walk through the barrier to meet my parents, holding hands. If that isn't obvious to them, I don't know what is."

"Yes, that's all right. So all we do is walk through the barrier at the platform holding hands, right?" he confirmed with Ginny.

"Yep, that's it, that's all we do. Now let's go back to our compartment, otherwise they might think we've got lost."

"Us get lost, ha!" he said as they walked back down the hallway back to their compartment. "You're with the great Harry Potter!" He continued puffing out his chest and flexing his muscles. "No one would ever get lost with the great Harry Potter!"

"Yes, no one would ever get lost with the great Harry Potter. Now, don't tell them anything. Just say that we didn't find the lady with the trolley, OK?"

"Yep, you can count on me, love," he said puffing out his chest once more.

Harry had just slid open the compartment door when a voice exploded at them.

"There you are! The train's almost at the platform! What took you so long?" yelled a very angry Ron. "And where's the food?" he added wistfully. "I'm _starving_, you know."

"Sorry, Ron, we couldn't find the trolley lady," said Harry as he levitated Ginny's trunk out from the luggage rack.

"And you had plenty of time to buy food. You just wasted it all on playing," added Ginny, sticking her tongue out at him.

They got trolleys for the luggage and approached the barrier which would take them back to the Muggle world. When they got to the barrier everyone had gone through except Harry and Ginny.

"Are you ready, Harry?" Ginny asked as she looked deeply into his eyes.

"Yep, I think I am," he said smiling and looking down at her. "Let's go," he continued and he took Ginny's hand firmly in his. Together they walked through the barrier, hand in hand, as it always should have been.


	3. A Night In The Dark

Chapter 3

_A/N Hi guys, really really really sorry about the long wait but I have had A LOT of trouble with my computers and I am buying another one so the next chapter SHOULD come a bit quicker. ___

Chapter 3 **A day in the dark**

When the familiar sensation of walking through a solid brick wall without hitting it passed, Harry opened his eyes and was temporarily blinded by the sudden increase of light.

As he regained his sight, he expected to see Ron and Hermione, standing in a tight embrace with Mr and Mrs Weasley. But all he saw were Ron and Hermione standing in the crowded King's Cross station looking around with worried looks on their faces.

"Where do you think they are, Harry?" said Ginny, her voice getting gradually more anxious. "I mean… they said they would meet us here like they always do, you don't think… oh _God, _where are they?" Ginny went on, her words turning into sobs.

"They're probably just a bit late, Gin," Harry said, trying to comfort her. "I mean, there're a lot of people around, they could just be stuck in the traffic. It will be all fine."

"Yeah, you're probably right; I just thought they were…"

Harry thought he heard four small pops. He whipped around, but saw nothing. Just as he looked back to Ron and Hermione, he saw them both disappear with two more pops. He turned back to Ginny.

"RUN, GINNY!"

Just as she turned to take off, she disappeared with another pop.

"NO! _Ginny!_"

He spun on the spot, his eyes searching through his surroundings as chattering people pushed their trolleys past him.

'That's it,' Harry thought, 'I heard four pops and only three pops have…'

His trail of thought was gone as sudden darkness engulfed him, and the very familiar suffocating feeling started to take hold of him. As per usual, when he felt like he was about to suffocate he suddenly hit the floor – this time a cold, hard and carpeted floor. Just as Harry registered what had happened, he heard another pop, probably from his kidnapper Apparating away.

Harry looked up at the ceiling; he could make out a light and a fan, but it was so dark he could see nothing else. As he lay back on the floor his head hit a blunt wooden object, and he tried to determine what it was with his hands.

'A bed,' Harry thought, 'why would there be a bed here? And where _is _here?'

After a few minutes of blindly blundering around, Harry decided it was in his best interest to lie on the bed instead of the floor.

Hours passed. Harry couldn't tell if it was still morning, or afternoon, or even night time. Harry's thoughts started to get desperate. It was like trying to bargain with someone inside his head.

'Please… I'll do anything if you tell me where I am.' And, 'Please give me light and I will give you my wand.' Those were some of the less desperate ones.

'All I need is light. You can have my wand,' he once again pleaded with himself, 'here, I've got it right here…' He took his wand out of his pocket and held it out in front of him.

"How could I have been so stupid? _Lumos_!" he yelled and at once his wand tip began to shine, lighting up everything in the room.

.

The knot in his chest loosened slightly after finally realising he had his wand all the time in his pocket. He looked around the newly lit room. His stomach did a back flip; there were a bed, a cupboard, a bookcase, a window, a door and a desk with paper strewn across it. It was oddly familiar to Harry. Various names of places flew around his head; The Burrow, the Hog's Head, Shell Cottage, the Leaky Cauldron and finally Mrs Tonks's house.

His thoughts then went to the past year's 'adventure'. He thought it looked strangely like the room in which Griphook had stayed the previous year after escaping from Malfoy Manor. Harry pondered this for a few moments, and then finally decided there was only one way to find out if he was right or not.

"_Sonorus!' _yelled Harry, pointing his wand to his throat, just as Bagman had at the Quidditch World Cup. "Bill! Fleur! Are you there?" He continued looking straight at the door from the room.

Harry knew, even before he said it, that it would be a very long shot. That was until…

"'Arry?" shouted a voice Harry knew only too well, "var are you?"

"In here, Fleur!" said Harry, his voice still amplified by the charm.

"Oh! Zair you are!" Fleur screamed, running through the door and quickly grabbing Harry in a tight hug.

"Hi, Fleur… oh sorry… Quietus," Harry muttered, forgetting his voice was still being projected. "Sorry, but why didn't you come for me earlier? We arrived at King's Cross and we didn't see the Weasleys, and then some people Apparated us away and I came here."

"Oh, Arry, I'm sorry but Bill only told me about you coming 'ere about five minutes ago, 'e said you vouldn't be 'ere until you met Molly and Arthur," Fleur explained to Harry, sitting herself next to him on the bed.

"Oh… I didn't even know that I was coming to stay here, all I knew is that I was going to Ron and Ginny's house to stay for a while until I found my feet," he said as he looked out the window, which showed a picturesque view of the sun just setting over the water.

"Oh 'Arry, I didn't know. Even Bill didn't tell me until tonight," Fleur said very sympathetically.

"It's OK, Fleur. Do you know where Bill is?" Harry questioned.

"Yes, in ze dining room. Come, follow me," she said, standing up and walking out the door.

Harry jumped up to follow her (almost tripping over in the process). He walked through door and saw the familiar corridor of Shell Cottage, where he had spent a few weeks during the previous year. It quickly became apparent that Fleur was a very fast walker; once Harry got through the doorway he had already lost sight of her. It took at least one or two "Fleur? Where did you go?"'s and "Arry, over ere"'s before Harry finally got to the dining room.

Once he entered it did not seem like the dining room he remembered; paper was everywhere, couches had been pushed aside, and there was a huge table in the centre, which looked like it could seat at least thirty. Harry continued to look around the messy room until he found who he had been looking for.

"Bill, hey Bill!" he shouted to Bill Weasley, who was seated, not at the big table, but at a smaller bench by the kitchen window, reading an immense stack of parchment.

"What? Oh, Harry!" said Bill, getting up immediately from his chair and flicking his wand to the bigger table making all the parchment disappear. "How are you, Harry? How was your last train ride home?"

"It could have been better," replied Harry, his temper rising and rising every second.

"And why is that Harry?" asked Bill, who in Harry's opinion did a very bad job of feigning innocence.

"Well… let me see," Harry said, putting his finger on his chin. "Oh yeah, WE GOT TO THE PLATFORM TO FIND YOUR PARENTS NOT THERE, THEN I SAW EACH ONE OF MY FRIENDS APPARATED AWAY IN FRONT OF MY EYES, THEN YOU KEPT ME IN THAT ROOM FOR HOURS. THAT'S HOW IT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER!" exploded Harry, glaring at Bill's face, not realising that all the lights were flickering madly and all the curtains where whipping around furiously.

"Harry, I didn't do that. I didn't even know about that until about forty-five minutes ago," said Bill back to Harry, turning away to look at Fleur, "that's when we got the information."

"What information? Are you just gonna leave me in the dark? _Again?_" Harry started to flare up once again causing some of the lights to flicker.

"No 'Arry, 'e does not vant to leave you in ze dark," Fleur said to Harry very nicely and slowly.

"Yes. Thanks, honey. Anyway, we got informed of a situation that has just arisen," continued Bill.

"Like?" pushed on Harry.

"Well… don't get angry, but… my parents have been kidnapped," he added very quickly and quietly.

"Your… _WHAT?" _ Harry exploded once again, this time not at Bill but out of pure anger and hate. "Why would they do that? I mean, who did it? It can't be the Death Eaters, right?"

"Well, we're not sure who did it, but we have a hunch of sorts," Bill continued. "We think it _was _some of the remaining Death Eaters," he finished.

"_What?_ Death Eaters? Didn't we kill most of them? And the ones we didn't kill… well they would have to be really stupid and desperate to try –"

"Yes Harry, you've hit it… _desperate_... they are as desperate as anything to get more people into – well, what they see as their preferred situation of the Wizarding world," Bill continued with a slight grin on his face – a disgusted grin.

This was all too much for Harry, learning that his best friend and girlfriend's parents and his only mother were gone when all had seemed safe. In his heart Harry knew that no matter what he would hunt down and take down whoever did this to their family. Now Harry knew why they had split them all up – to greatly lessen the chance of either himself, Ginny, Ron or Hermione being taken as well. Harry thought of just Apparating to the Burrow, where Ginny and Ron probably were…

_But they wouldn't be there. They'd be too easy to take if they were there,_ he thought. Harry didn't know where anyone was, and he didn't think that if he asked they would tell him.

"'Arry, are you OK?" asked Fleur, waving her hand in front of his face. "You drifted off – you vere just staring at ze chair."

"What?" answered Harry after Fleur interrupted his trail of thought. "Yeah, I'm fine… I might go lay down for a bit. Is there somewhere I can do that?" he asked, realising how tired he really was.

"Yes, you can sleep in the room you were in before, our spare room, if you want to know… oh, and it's ten o'clock, if you want to know," Bill added.

"Thanks. G'night," he replied and made his way to the spare room to get some sleep and think of what he could do in the current situation. As he walked down the hall, trying to remember which way to go, he remembered the time he spent here the previous year. He thought of the sick and injured Ollivander, he remembered talking and making plans to break into Gringotts with the goblin Griphook. Then his thoughts went to one of the worst things he would ever remember… Dobby, Dobby who had given his life to rescue them from Malfoy Manor. He thought of the last words ever to come out of the elf's mouth: '_Harry Potter.' _

When he finally reached the spare room it looked a lot different; the bed had a different cover on it, his trunk was there, his pyjamas were laid neatly across the bed and it looked like his clothes had been put in the wardrobe. Harry found only one explanation for this.

'Pfft, magic.'

He slipped off his clothes and put on his pyjamas, threw back the covers of the bed, and lay down. He very quickly drifted off to sleep.

_He was walking towards the Forbidden Forest; he could hear screams and calls of pain and anguish. As he got deeper into the forest he saw six figures, each tied to a tree. _

"_Harry, so kind of you to join us," hissed a man who, like dust, swept in front of him. Harry felt a pull and was drawn closer to the figures, close enough that he could make out who they were: Ron, Ginny, Hermione, Dobby, Mr Weasley and Mrs Weasley. They were all screaming at him to help them, to save them. "Harry, you have a choice, you can save one, but the rest will die…"_

"_No, I can't! No, don't make me choose…"_

"'Arry, 'Arry vake up!" yelled Fleur as she pushed and poked him. "Vake up, you vere screaming in your sleep… _please_ vake up."

"What? Oh, Fleur, what happened?" asked Harry very groggily, raising his head and realising he was covered in sweat.

"You vere yelling and shaking in your sleep," explained Fleur, sitting on the bed. "I've never seen you like zis before, I thought for ze verst."

"Oh it's nothing, Fleur," Harry said looking up to Fleur, who Harry thought looked like was about to lecture him. "_Really,_ Fleur, it's nothing."

Harry rolled over leaving Fleur sitting on his bed looking a bit anxious.

"Are you sure? 'Arry?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he continued and she got up. "It was only a nightmare."

He heard her sigh and leave the room.

"Only a nightmare." 


End file.
